


Thief in the Night

by Helioste (themedic_josef)



Category: Borderlands
Genre: M/M, Rhys ISN'T CEO in this one, and a little surprise concerning Rhys later on, co-bandit king Rhys, eventual Rhys/Vaughn, mentions of Cassius, not gonna reveal it here until it happens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-30 12:46:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6424726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themedic_josef/pseuds/Helioste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a thief in the night that's stealing food from the Children of Helios... except it isn't exactly your average thief. Something feels off with this one and Vaughn doesn't like it one bit, especially when it's putting Rhys and his followers in danger. But what is it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Thief in the Night

When Rhys and Fiona had finally left the mysterious Vault of the Traveler everyone had immediately pressed them for answers, all desperate and practically baying to know what had happened in the entire _day_ they’d spent in there. Of course, they didn’t, nae _couldn’t_ elaborate. Something had told them not to, some creature that Rhys vaguely recalled was an Eridian, and so they didn’t. For once in their lives they actually did as they were told but they didn’t quite know what it was going to do for them by not telling. However if there was one thing that had happened that they _could_ talk about it was how Rhys had left the Vault with _bright Eridium-purple hair_. Vaughn had immediately been freaking out upon seeing that, eyes wide and arms flailing as Rhys waved him off.

_‘I’m fine, Vaughn! Really!’_ he had laughed, Fiona pushing past him and rolling her eyes before explaining how this had happened.

_‘Apparently it’s temporary. But the idiot pricked his finger on a pure Eridium crystal in the Inner Sanctum of the Vault, where we were teleported to. According to one of the Eridians we saw it’s basically harmless right now, the hair going purple is just an initial side-effect.’_ The con artist explained, Rhys crossing his arms and huffing as Sasha and August had taken to giggling at his expense. Alright, so he hadn’t necessarily been watching where he was holding onto things in a _pitch black cavern_ , Rhys tried to defend, but it wasn’t entirely his fault that this had happened. After all, how could he have _possibly_ known that?

Regardless the issue was swept aside and the others took great joy in playing with Rhys’ purple hair until it started to fade after a couple of weeks, all of them relaxing in the camp of Old Helios where many of the other survivors of the Helios crash dotted and milled about not really doing anything. It was amazing that Vaughn had managed to lead them in any sort of fashion given that they had previously been some of the biggest assholes in the whole of Hyperion, minus Handsome Jack himself of course. Either way they all took orders from Vaughn and they all took orders from Rhys too, the skinny cyborg being Vaughn’s second in command, as it were. It had taken them a good couple of days to find Rhys again as he’d buried himself deep in the wreckage of the once magnificent space station that had previously loomed over most of Pandora, Vaughn dragging the half-unconscious man out from the ruins that had been Handsome Jack’s office and gathering his busted cybernetic arm for the few surviving robotics technicians to be able to make a replica from. After all he wasn’t about to let his best friend suffer without a proper arm on this hellhole of a planet, especially not after that ridiculous AI of Handsome Jack had ruined everything for him. It didn’t even cross either of their minds to go back and get some of the items from the destroyed display case, though someone managed to get in there at some point and swipe the Conference Call from its resting place and present it to Rhys as thanks for “freeing” them from Hyperion’s rule. From there things had progressed nicely, Rhys rarely leaving Old Helios without the particularly large and weighty weapon he’d managed to gather up the strength to wield and all of them managing to enjoy life together in one another’s company in the rapidly-growing bandit camp Vaughn was considered the king of.

Then, exactly a year later from the Vault of the Traveler battle, food began to go missing from the storage vault within the wreckage. It was large and probably used to be the chamber for the since-destroyed Eye of Helios for all they knew and it had been completely cleared out and refurbished into being capable of storing masses and masses of food for the growing bandit camp. Since they’d struck an alliance with Cassius and had sent some old Hyperion employees to his care to work on the terrarium-like Atlas facility they’d been receiving food in return for their help, storing it in the vault and rationing it out to the camp-goers. The system worked thus:

One would enter the vault accompanied by one of “The Five” (that being Vaughn, Rhys, Fiona, Sasha and August as the people liked to call them) and would be allowed to select an amount of food they desired for the first half of the day. After selecting the food would be approved and one would be allowed to leave with their rations for the day. If not approved of, the selection would be altered before being approved. It was a simple enough system and it worked for everyone, Vaughn rarely getting people that complained or tried to steal. It was good.

But now someone _was_ stealing from the vault and the people were outraged. They were complaining left, right and centre and there was only so much Vaughn and Rhys could do to pacify them all.

‘Look, guys, we’ll track down where the food’s been stashed to. Then, when we find out who it is, there will be a punishment. Okay?’ Rhys managed to say above the hollering of the distressed crowd, August soon firing a couple of bullets into the air and hitting an unfortunate Rakk on the way.

‘Shut it and listen!’ He roared, everyone finally falling silent at the display of almost aggression from the well-known brawler. ‘Go ahead Rhys.’ August grunted to the second in command, Rhys thanking him quietly and nodding.

‘As I was saying, we’ll find out where the food has been taken and when we find out who it was we’ll work out an appropriate punishment. Okay? Until then, no one is guilty of this. It wasn’t exactly a _lot_ of food that was taken. Trust me, I took count yesterday after everyone was done for the day. There’s only a couple of items gone, so it isn’t too much to worry about. Alright?’ Rhys explained, looking at them all hopefully as, after a moment or two of deep thought from the crowd, they all agreed.

‘Yes Rhys.’ Came a chorus of voices from the crowd of people before they dispersed. Vaughn sinking against his friend in absolute relief that his way with words had soothed the angered people of the bandit camp.

‘Bro, I am so glad you’re good at talking.’

‘So am I bro, so am I.’

Vaughn smiled wearily and nodded as the two old friends turned about-face and wandered back inside Old Helios, Rhys wobbling a little beside Vaughn. The little bandit king looked up at the taller man in concern.

‘You alright Rhys?’ he couldn’t help but ask, the taller nodding and putting a hand to his head.

‘Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Must be the heat…’ he mumbled, frowning a little at the almost sudden onset dizziness that washed over him. ‘How long left til I can crash out?’ he muttered, Vaughn humming and checking the makeshift sun dial set up outside.

‘Couple of hours, Rhys. You can go now, if you want?’ Vaughn smiled gently, Rhys managing a thin smile and nodding.

‘Thanks, man. I feel like I’m gonna fall over or something.’ He yawned slightly, wearily patting his friend’s head before ambling off at a much slower pace than Rhys normally would go at. As Vaughn watched him go, he couldn’t help but feel almost overwhelmingly concerned for him – Rhys usually was in top shape, it was almost unnatural to see him looking so… _weak_.

‘Must be the heat…’ Vaughn mused, running a hand through his fluffy beard absently before nodding to himself. Yes, that must be it. Just the heat.


	2. Another break-in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I got impatient and I decided to throw chapter two up here as well o3o  
> Also as a side note, I know this might seem boring at first but I hope you all start to get into it a little more with chapters to come :)

The food hadn’t yet been located and already a week had passed since the first incident, the Children of Helios and their leaders growing ever more nervous about the situation no matter how much Vaughn and Rhys tried to hide their concern. Cassius’ food production at the Atlas facility to the north had slowed down production after skags had gotten into the dome, spreading a fungal type of infection across the largest batch of food there. Alpha skags had gotten into the power grid too, destroying the power lines and being killed in the process but not before halting all power to the labs and the storage facilities. What little food Cassius had left was being kept on-site to keep himself and the staff going and while Vaughn understood that it was still pressing down on his mind like a dead weight, an ongoing reminder that maybe they _were_ doomed to fail on this planet’s surface.

Just as he was hauling himself out of bed for the day Rhys and Fiona came bursting into his room, Rhys’ eyes wide.

‘Vaughn!’

‘There’s been another lot of food stolen!’

They both cried and Vaughn flew up from his bed in but a second, grabbing his clothes and pulling them on before sprinting off down the corridor after his ‘advisers’. And they were right, much to his disappointment. The vault had been broken into again and this time a more significant amount of food had gone missing. Cans of food, processed foods, chilled and air-tight packaged foods gone. Hell, even some fruits had been nabbed by this thief.

The bandit king gave a soft groan before being called over to examine the broken-through door the thief had evidently come through by force. Though there was one thing that made Vaughn’s brow furrow; giant claw marks almost decorated the battered door, piercing the metal and slicing it like butter in the wake of… of _whatever_ had done this. They were broad marks as if coming from something with thick, chunky claws and on the floor and walls leading toward the vault were long thin scratches assumedly from thinner claws on hind legs and a long, winding tail. It was deeply concerning to say the _least_. Whatever they were up against was some kind of creature, a _giant_ kind of creature that could slice through reinforced metal as if it were nothing but foam.

‘What kind of creature could’ve done this, Vaughn?’ one of the Children that had been seeing to the completely busted-up door asked, their leader shaking his head and running a hand through his bedraggled hair he hadn’t even been able to tie up yet.

‘I don’t… God, I don’t know. It could’ve been _anything_. There’s lots of life on Pandora we haven’t discovered, skags and rakks are only a tiny part of it all. And whatever the hell this thing was it was bigger than an alpha skag.’ The follower before him swallowed and gave a nervous nod, staring up at the claw marks along the walls again as Vaughn shook his head. ‘Keep repairing that door. Rhys, Fiona. With me.’ He said, Rhys unable to help the smile on his face whenever Vaughn got into his bossy mood. Such an air of authority suited him, Rhys often thought to himself, and even in dire times like this it definitely suited him now.

The two advisers followed him quickly as the bandit king moved off down the corridor, looking around for more scratch marks to track before they came to a rather abrupt stop just down the hall from Rhys’ quarters.

‘Okay… that’s weird…’ Fiona muttered, Rhys moving ahead upon seeing his door open.

‘Hey, who the hell went in my room?’ he growled a little, pushing past where Vaughn had stopped and storming into his room only to see everything how he’d left it. Minus Sasha and August being in there. ‘What are you guys doing in my room?’ he demanded, August turning and showing him the rather large haul of food that had been stuffed into a large locker in his room.

‘How about you tell us what all _this_ is doing in _your_ room?’ August grunted in almost disbelief, Rhys’ eyes tripling in size as he saw it all jammed in there firmly. Vaughn ran in behind his friend only to stop dead at the sight of the stolen food.

‘Rhys? What the _hell_ is this?’ he said, Rhys shaking his head in growing panic.

‘No, no this wasn’t me! I think I’d remember doing something like this! That wasn’t there last night! I swear!’ Rhys said, turning to Vaughn and the disapproving Fiona with wide, rather scared and sleepy eyes. ‘The only thing I got up to do last night was go to the bathroom! I felt sick!’ he tried to defend himself, Vaughn shaking his head and gently holding his shoulders.

‘Rhys, calm down bro. I believe you. Okay? I know this isn’t something you’d do at all, be it under normal circumstances or otherwise. August, Sasha, get that food back to the vault. Get a couple of the Children to help you that are cleaning up the door to the vault. Fiona, with me. Come on Rhys, let’s just get you a drink to calm you down, alright?’ Vaughn said calmly, gently holding onto Rhys’ trembling shoulder before turning him about-face and walking him out with Fiona following close behind in distrust. Something strange was going on here and she’d be damned if she didn’t find out what.

* * *

 

‘You don’t really think it was Rhys, do you August?’ Sasha asked her other half curiously as she watched him haul the food out of the locker and carry it down to the vault with a grunt. He only ever got in this kind of mood when something was bothering him and Sasha could tell with how he was chewing his cheek. August shook his head.

‘I don’t know what I think, Sash. It’s weird. I know this ain’t like Rhys to do this, but at the same time he had that damned AI in his head the entire time we were around him. What’s to say that isn’t somehow influencing him?’ he frowned to himself, Sasha giving a soft sigh and grabbing another load of the stolen food to walk with him.

‘I don’t know, that doesn’t seem like something _Handsome Jack_ would do. Stealing food is kinda petty, even if he would wanna frame Rhys for it. Revenge and all that, y’know? Just… nothing adds up.’ Sasha mused, walking beside August as he gave another grunt.

‘Either way. Whether it was Rhys or somethin’ else influencing him or someone framing him, I don’t like it. None of this makes sense, you saw those giant-ass claw marks on the vault door. Some creature got in there and nicked the damned food, not a person. There ain’t anything human that could do that and I don’t think Rhys gave that fancy arm of his any upgrades.’ He said sceptically as they arrived at the vault and dropped the food off. ‘I mean, look at this Sasha. Rhys ain’t that tall to make those kinda marks that high up. This is all wrong.’ He said, gesturing broadly to the marks on both the door and the walls and floor outside the vault.

‘Yeah… I feel ya.’ Sasha nodded, dropping off her food and standing next to him before looping her arms around his waist. ‘Rhys is just… _normal_. Y’know?’ she gave a soft giggle, ‘unless he’s like some kinda were-skag now.’ She grinned as August snorted and pushed her off playfully before picking her up and carrying her out over his shoulder.

‘You’ve been spending too much time ‘round Claptrap and Gortys.’

 


	3. Suspicious Activity

The next day, or rather night, was teeming with events for the two sisters. Fiona and Sasha had been out for a night walk together out of sheer boredom, August out scavenging for any food he could get his hands on to help bolster their supplies and therefore unable to entertain Sasha for the night. That’s when they saw _it_. They saw a long, wispy tail disappearing around a corner, one that glowed a bright blue at its tuft-like tip, and stood still with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Were they seeing things?

‘What was that?’ Sasha whispered to Fiona, eyes wide as she looked up at her sister only to see her starting to run around the corner to catch up to the _thing_. ‘Hey!’

Fiona didn’t look back as she jogged ahead, a frown plastering her face. Whatever that thing was it had come from the direction of the vault and this thing was no doubt the cause of the theft. However by the time she managed to even round the corner the monster had disappeared almost into thin air, it appeared. Sasha caught up to her and barreled into her side, the both of them missing Rhys’ door close as they fell to the floor in a heap.

‘Sash! What are you doing?’ Fiona groaned, pushing her sister off and climbing to her feet.

‘You just ran off without me after that thing!’

‘What else was I supposed to do? Just let it go? That _thing_ is what’s stealing the food!’ Fiona almost snapped at her, eyes narrowing as she frowned. Sasha rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet, rubbing her head and backside.

‘Fi, you got no proof to say that’s what’s doing it.’ Sasha huffed, crossing her arms as Fiona rolled her eyes.

‘Sash, it came from the direction of the vault. It has to be! It’s the only thing big enough!’

‘Was it carrying any food?’

‘Well… no…’ Fiona admitted rather sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as Sasha nodding critically at her sister.

‘There you are then. Either way, what do you think it was? Some kind of really, _really_ mutated skag?’

‘Uh-uh. Bigger. I’ve seen alpha skags, elder skags and badass skags and I’ve seen mutated skags. None of them have ever been _that_ big.’

The statement hung in the air, stagnating around them as they just stared down the empty corridor. If this wasn’t a _skag_ then what the hell _was_ it?

‘Shit, we need to wake Vaughn. If this thing _is_ what’s taking the food, then Rhys is in danger. The hell are we doing just standing around?’ Fiona cursed, turning on her heel and sprinting down the other corridor on the other side of the T-like layout of the living quarters. Sasha groaned and managed to jog after her elder sister, wheezing ever so slightly with just how much running they’d been doing.

‘Vaughn! Wake up!’ Fiona shouted as she burst into his room, the bandit king yelping and falling out of bed in shock.

‘Fi! What the hell is wrong with you?! It’s two in the morning!’ Vaughn moaned, grabbing his blanket and wrapping it around himself.

‘We saw the thing that’s stealing all the food!’

‘ _What?!_ ’

Sasha nodded in agreement.

‘We did! Well, we saw its tail. And we don’t know if it _is_ stealing the food. But it disappeared around the corner to Rhys’ side of the corridor and then we lost it.’ She explained, Fiona diving into detail as she described what she saw and the two could only watch as Vaughn’s eyes got wider and wider in nothing but shock and then concern for his friend that inhabited the only room in that corridor. Vaughn immediately hauled himself up from the floor with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, moving out swiftly past the two almost shaken sisters and down the hall to Rhys’ room.

‘Rhys? You awake bro?’ he called in through the door before opening it to see the lanky man sprawled lazily across his own bed and vastly different to how he’d been snuggled under the covers when Vaughn had checked on him on his own way to bed. ‘Rhys?’ Vaughn frowned, walking in and shaking his friend awake. Rhys jumped and stirred a little, groaning and huffing.

‘Wha…? Vaughn…?’ he mumbled, eyes heavy with sleep. No, that was _exhaustion_ , not mere sleep. He managed to sit himself up and it was then that Vaughn noticed the paleness in his cheeks.

‘You okay? You look sick.’

‘Yeah, I had to run to the bathroom… felt sick…’ Rhys mumbled, a yawn or two interrupting his sentence as Vaughn felt his forehead and the girls moved in to check Rhys’ locker. Much to their surprise and Rhys’ horror the second they opened it packets of food came tumbling out and sat at their feet, presenting itself as a medal of guilt that could have only pointed to Rhys. Sasha stared and picked up the can of food, frowning and staring at Rhys as he watched on in mute horror.

‘But… but I… I was in the bathroom…! I got up at midnight and I went to the bathroom!’

‘Rhys, it’s gone-three in the morning.’

‘I… I must have thrown up so hard I blacked out…’ Rhys mumbled nervously, shaking and sniffing a little as Vaughn frowned.

‘Okay so whatever is stealing the food is trying to frame Rhys and keeps going back to your room to hide the food. Not to mention from what the girls are saying it’s some kind of giant monster. From now on, until this problem is sorted, you’re staying with me in my room. Only way I’ll be comfortable knowing you’re safe with this so-called “monster” roaming around at night.’ Vaughn said firmly as Rhys rubbed some of the sleep from his eyes, Sasha still staring oddly at Rhys as the thin man gathered some of his spare blankets (more than usual when he often crashed with someone, Sasha noted) and moved out with Vaughn. Fiona nudged her.

‘What are you staring at?’ she muttered, Sasha blinking and frowning again.

‘The scar on his finger. How did you say he got it again?’ she asked in a lower tone to avoid being heard by Vaughn, the question confusing Fiona though she answered nonetheless.

‘He pricked himself on a pure Eridium crystal in the Vault. Why?’

‘It was glowing blue a second ago.’

‘What?’

‘The same blue as that tail we saw.’

‘Sasha, you can’t be _seriously_ suggesting that _Rhys_ is the thief? We all already know he isn’t!’

‘Fi, think about it! He went to puke at _midnight_. He was “unconscious” for three hours! We saw that thing before it disappeared and when we checked on Rhys he was sprawled all over his bed and _now_ that scar of his was _glowing_! You can’t tell me that’s not the least bit suspicious, Fiona.’ Sasha stared up at her with wide eyes and a hushed voice, her older sister’s features creasing with a frown.

‘You didn’t even believe me when I said I saw the thing.’

‘That’s beside the point. What if Rhys is some kind of were-monster-thing?’ Sasha said, eyes wide as she thought it all over carefully. She had to be right, it was the only remotely logical explanation!

‘You’ve been spending too much time around Claptrap and Gortys.’ Fiona said, though she couldn’t quite help the niggling feeling in the back of her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this one feels kinda short, but I promise the next chapter is much longer and has probably more content in it :)


	4. A second sighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter by far with a lot more meat in it :) I'll try and get another written at some point, sort of losing motivation/inspiration/determination/hope with this one :I

In the few weeks following the “sighting” and a single day after another incident Sasha had grown increasingly suspicious around Rhys and his growing irrational behaviour, often trying to spy on him before being called away for other duties and activities around the bandit camp and the small explored area around the ruins of Helios. She had followed him around at a distance, watching him and his every move and was starting to notice a slight shift in him. Rhys’ health was getting considerably worse after it was noticed he was often getting dizzy in the Pandoran heat and faint just as the night cycles of the planet hit, meaning for the most part he was sometimes bedbound and unable to do much.

‘Seriously Vaughn, we need to get him to some kind of doctor.’ Sasha hissed quietly, wary of the supposedly resting cyborg they assumed in the other room since his door was shut as they spoke in hushed tones in the corridor. ‘He’s had a fever _and_ Rakk pox, he isn’t _well_! You can’t deny that!’

‘Sasha, there _isn’t_ a doctor we can get him to! Not one that is on Pandora or trustworthy!’ Vaughn snapped back, finally losing his temper. ‘I am not letting him out of my sight, not while that so-called monster is still roaming around!’

‘Vaughn, you’re going to get sick too at this rate!’

‘Sasha! That’s enough!’ Vaughn soon barked at her, eyes narrowed in anger and annoyance before he turned on his heel and stormed off, leaving Sasha to flail her arms uselessly in exasperation.

Even August had told her to just leave it by now, Fiona long since giving up trying to dissuade her suspicious sister. Hell, maybe she should just leave it, Sasha thought as she walked off to leave Rhys to rest in peace in his room, after all she was only being paranoid, surely.

Then, just as she had turned the corner away from Rhys’ corridor, she heard footsteps. Slow, light but still there and still loud enough for her to hear them. Immediately Sasha backpedalled around the corner again to see Rhys moving slowly into his room, arms laden with food.

‘Rhys? What are you doing?’ Sasha frowned, walking over swiftly as Rhys almost jumped. ‘You’re meant to be resting, what on Pandora are you doing out here?’ then she spied the food. ‘What are you doing with all that?’

* * *

 

‘Vaughn, I’m sorry bro, I just wanted to take my rations for the day…’ Rhys sighed as he was sat on his bed being questioned by the little bandit king who looked highly unimpressed and yet sympathetic with his rather pale-looking friend. Vaughn gave a weary sigh.

‘Rhys, I know you’re hungry. I am too. But you can’t just take your rations without telling anyone about it. If the Children were to find out it’d cause outrage and they’d all take to accusing you of being the thief again when we’ve only _just_ stopped them from doing so.’

Rhys looked down at his bed covers in shame, cheeks burning as Fiona was standing just behind Vaughn with her arms crossed and shoulders squared in evident distaste at his actions.

‘I’m sorry, Vaughn. It won’t happen again.’ Regardless of rank or personal status, Vaughn couldn’t let this slide even for his best friend and while he was battling with his own understanding of harbouring feelings further than friendship for Rhys, it wouldn’t look good for his role as the leader of the Children of Helios to just allow this.

‘I hope not. Cassius is struggling to supply us after another outbreak of that fungal infection in the food plants. I’ve been sending over support for them in terms of muscle but there’s only so much either of us can do. Everyone’s starving, why do you think August goes out regularly now to try and score us some extra food?’ Vaughn said, watching Rhys closely as he hung his head in shame. He let the question hang in the air for a little while, allowing Rhys to wallow in his own shame and guilt before continuing.

‘I’m going to have to impose stricter regulations on the food rationing until Cassius gets his end sorted at the Atlas facility.’ Vaughn muttered, shaking his head and highly reluctant to want to do that at all. ‘From now on, any and every bit of food is written down, two of us will accompany them into the vault and I want all-hour cameras monitoring both inside the vault and outside it from all angles. Understood?’

‘Yes Vaughn.’ Everyone answered firmly, Rhys dully if anything as the little bandit king nodded and went back to his daily duties as Fiona lingered as if to say something to the pale ex-company man before she too left. Rhys gave a soft sigh to himself.

‘I _suck_.’

* * *

 

A mere week after “Rhys’ Little Mishap”, as the girls had taken to nicknaming it, there was yet another incident. However this time it was different – the food had been located as being stashed in _Vaughn’s_ personal locker in his room, not Rhys’. Needless to say Vaughn had been rather embarrassed and concerned to discover it the following morning while Rhys had his head buried under his nest-like hoard of blankets.

‘Rhys, I don’t understand what the hell is doing this. Will you get out of those blankets? You’re gonna get yourself too hot again!’ Vaughn groaned in despair, walking over to the bed after counting through the hoard of food to rouse his friend. If there was one thing Vaughn had noticed about the stolen food was that it was almost always the same items, or very similar if something had been eaten.

‘No… No I don’t want to…’ Rhys mumbled sleepily, hair a complete mess as he reluctantly dragged himself half out of the little nest only for his arm to give up and his body to slump down again. The exhausted co-bandit king gave a whine, looking around hazily for his other arm before his sleep-ridden eyes settled on where it was plugged into its docking station to charge.

‘Bro… help…’ Rhys managed to get out with his face smushed into a pillow. Vaughn rolled his eyes before giving a fond smile, unable to help it from breaking out across his worn features as he sat himself on the bed nearer Rhys’ side.

‘Did you get up to puke again last night, bro?’ he asked gently, combing a hand through Rhys’ bird’s nest hair as the lankier man gave a whine to confirm it.

‘Yeah… I don’t really remember coming back to bed though…’

‘Well, it was kinda early when you got up.’

‘Mhm…’ Rhys gave a wide yawn, shivering and trembling slightly as he struggled to keep his eyes open any longer and allowed them to slide shut in his drowsy state. For some reason Vaughn couldn’t quite put his finger on Rhys had been gradually becoming lazier in the mornings, often finding it harder than normal to get himself out of bed or even just wake up properly. Unfortunately that had in turn meant that someone else often needed to take over Rhys’ morning shifts and duties until he was up and moving about. Provided it was Eva, someone who had always been very willing in taking over Rhys’ tasks if he was unable to, it was a simple enough task. But if it was someone else who was much less willing than the bright-natured woman…

Now that Vaughn that about it, Eva probably deserved some kind of reward for putting up with it and Rhys had often spoken of rewarding her for her efforts too. Yeah. The dark-haired young woman definitely deserved a little something considering she sometimes didn’t even need to be asked to take over Rhys’ duties for a couple of hours or even a day, other Children frequently admiring her selflessness and Vaughn made a firm mental note to praise her and give her something. Maybe a day off, if Rhys could stop being so ill long enough for her to enjoy one. She was like Rhys’ impromptu personal assistant and often the two had joked together about making her of such a status, not that Rhys actually needed one. Then again given how his health was currently…

‘C’mon, Rhys, up you get.’ Vaughn smiled as he turned his attention back to his pale-faced and sleep-ridden friend beside him, ruffling Rhys’ bed-hair gently before getting himself up and walking around to the other side to kneel down to his friend. He raised a finger and gently booped Rhys’ nose, earning a nose wrinkle from the other and a lazy eye cracking open a tad. ‘We got stolen food to log and take back again.’ Another groan met Vaughn’s ears as he gave a soft chuckle – perhaps he’d be best to leave Rhys to himself for an hour or so, seeing as he’d eventually get himself up.

Once Vaughn had left his room he was greeted by Fiona and Sasha, probably for the fifth time that week if he had been counting properly. He withheld a sigh and an eye roll and willingly engaged in the evident conversation they desired.

‘Morning Sash, Fi.’ He greeted, nodding and managing a rather tired smile as the two sisters almost seemed to brush it off.

‘Vaughn we saw the monster last night.’

‘For real. The whole thing.’

‘The whole thing?’

‘Yeah!’ Sasha said loudly, Vaughn wincing a little and raising a hand. He might have been an early bird, earlier than Rhys anyhow, but that didn’t quite mean he was ready to be dealing with relatively loud noises.

‘You both saw the whole monster?’ he echoed again, wanting to be absolutely certain he’d heard them right the first time.

‘We did. It’s huge, Vaughn, like some kind of miniature Vault monster.’ Fiona nodded, eyes rather wide and it was evident the two had bags under them. ‘It’s got this long tail that has a glowing blue tuft at the end and giant claws at the front and-‘

‘And really lean back legs! It’s like its top-heavy or something!’

Vaughn gave a slight frown as he listened to their brief description of the creature, closing his eyes to try and picture it in his mind’s eye before he sighed a little at being unable to. He opened his eyes and stared wearily at the two sisters, knowing how they had worn themselves out trying to catch better glimpses at this creature that was terrorizing the bandit camp and knowing how they had their suspicions surrounding Rhys. Then he realised they were still talking rather animatedly to him.

‘And we saw it disappear into your room too!’ Sasha said, almost waving her arms about as Vaughn groaned softly.

‘I didn’t hear anything come in, Sasha, if that’s what you were about to demand. But yes, there is stolen food in my locker.’ He said, tone bored as he was just plain old _tired_ of this now as it had been going for best part of what felt like two months already. Vaughn just wanted it to end. Then Fiona finally piped up.

‘Vaughn, if there’s one thing I’ve noticed about this monster’s appearances it’s that it isn’t on a lunar cycle.’ She said once Sasha had calmed down. Vaughn blinked a little and stared at her, a frown starting to work its way onto his features.

‘It _isn’t_ on a lunar cycle?’ he echoed in bemusement. ‘But it only happens at night, Fiona, that doesn’t make any sense.’ He started as she shook her head.

‘No, that’s a night cycle. I mean a lunar cycle when the moon is full. It doesn’t happen when there’s a full moon, Vaughn. This isn’t Sasha’s alleged were-creature, this is something else.’ She explained, soon walking with the little bandit king to the makeshift kitchen for the five leaders and getting him a coffee to help wake him up.

‘I’ve been keeping track of when this thing appears ever since Sasha started going on about it incessantly and I’ve noticed a random pattern. As in, there isn’t one. It doesn’t appear when there’s full moons, new moons or any other kind of moon. It appears whenever it wants.’ She said, pausing to sip at her own coffee. ‘But there’s something Sasha’s noticed too and it’s gonna sound ridiculous but it also appears whenever Rhys has gone to puke in the night.’

Vaughn deadpanned over his steaming, cracked mug of coffee.

‘Fiona. You… _do_ realise just how _stupid_ that sounds?’

‘Yes, Vaughn, I’m well aware.’ The elder sister huffed. ‘But you can’t deny it, its fact. Whenever Rhys has gone to throw up, in whatever bathroom takes his fancy, that creature always appears while he’s absent.’

‘If you’re insinuating that _Rhys_ is some kind of ridiculous were-monster then I _might_ just decide to double your skag hunting shifts, Fiona…’ Vaughn warned as Sasha smirked and stepped up from where she’d been leaning against the counter, arms crossed and a confident grin plastered to her face.

‘Well if you want us proven wrong, I have the perfect monster-hunting plan we can use to do just that.’


	5. Monster Hunting Hijinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rawrbrawr sorry for the god-awfully long time between this update and the last! I am the worst, I know. But hey! I got this done after a polite Anon on tumblr asked about it and it finally kicked my ass in gear to get on with this a little bit! Sorry if the writing is a bit janky and doesn't flow so well in places, it's almost late and I couldn't decipher what some of my initial notes on this meant because I'm a clever sod :I
> 
> Enjoy!

Four days later the girls had wrangled August into helping them with their little monster hunt, going through the plan with Vaughn in thorough detail and deliberately leaving Rhys out of it. If everything went according to plan, Rhys would be proven as being a were-monster of sorts and Sasha would be proven right. Sort of. She was still convinced she was right in calling him a were- _something_ or other. However Vaughn wasn’t so convinced of their plan; Sasha had first suggested a giant net to snag the creature, but Fiona had made it so much easier in terms of resources and not getting mauled to death. Vaughn would be moved out of his room and Rhys would stay there, for however long it took until the monster showed up again of course, while the stolen food would be left in Vaughn’s locker. Sasha theorised in a rather roundabout manner that if the monster saw the food in the locker, then it wouldn’t go to the vault to get any more and that meant they could observe it directly from Vaughn’s room.

‘But where does the whole, “proving Rhys to be a monster” thing come into this?’ Vaughn had asked, a frown on his face as Fiona cut in.

‘Easy. If the monster leaves the room for whatever reason, we’ll be able to see if Rhys is still in there.’ She answered, August soon piping up.

‘And how are we gonna get the monster to leave the room if it doesn’t by itself?’ he asked, Sasha grinning wildly at him that only made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his heart sink.

‘Simple! You’re gonna be _bait_!’

* * *

 

In a strange way, it sounded like it was going to work, Vaughn thought as he was stood in the corridor with the girls a couple of unsuccessful nights later. In his sleep-ridden mind it sounded almost fool-proof. But he was completely exhausted from spending three nights up waiting for this creature to show itself and he was so very nearly done with the entire thing. He just wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and _sleep_. They’d heard nothing all night and Rhys hadn’t even moved out to throw up anywhere, but then there was an unfamiliar scratching and huffing coming from within his room and it jerked everyone from their half-asleep dazes. Sasha gasped quietly as she realised what that noise must have been, leaning forward in a suddenly alert state.

‘Guys!’ she hissed, wide-eyed, ‘I think it’s turned up!’

Vaughn held his breath as he heard the snuffing grow quieter and move away from the door, then a creaking of metal and a soft chirping noise. None of this made any sense, all of them too stunned to poke August into being bait as the door was soon nudged open and a large, rock-like muzzle slowly loomed from the darkened room. In seconds they all panicked and scrambled away around the corner, all panting and trying to hold their breaths as if it could smell the fear on them. Only Vaughn dared peep around the corner to see what was going on and he was _shocked_.

A giant, hulking _Vault monster_ was slinking out of his room, markings aglow all over its body as it appeared just as the girls had described it. Top-heavy looking with wide and bulky front paws, thick and chunky claws protruding from each forepaw as its chest sloped up and its body arched and became much, much thinner. Its haunches were relatively wide, though, and held the Vault symbol on its left flank, while its rear legs were much thinner and longer, almost spindly, and had much sharper claws at the ends of each. Its spine appeared to glow a vibrant, exotic blue while yellow dotted most of the other markings, and Vaughn watched as it moved out into the narrow corridor and sniffed around, its long tail swaying rather gracefully as its tip fluffed and glowed the same exotic blue. At a glance, Vaughn thought he had seen Rhys’ neck tattoo on the monster’s neck and he thought he’d seen his chest tattoos on the monster’s chest, but surely that was just a trick of the light and lack of sleep, right? It had to be, this wasn’t possibly happening!

The monster sniffed about at the air and gave a low thrumming noise, something that reminded Vaughn of a deep, rumbling purr a domesticated skag sometimes gave when it was satisfied. While he was momentarily lost in his thoughts, he’d missed the creature slowly padding closer and it wasn’t until the girls nudged him and pressed for details did he realise the creature was heading straight for them. The bandit king gasped and ducked back behind the corner, eyes wide.

‘This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening.’ He breathed as August shook him by the arm. ‘That thing is coming straight for us! August, you need to see if Rhys is okay!’ Vaughn finally remembered, eyes going wider as he recalled his best friend’s potential situation. The brawler nodded and instantly headed off away from them all and the approaching monster, taking another connecting corridor to slip into Vaughn’s room only to find that Rhys wasn’t there whatsoever. Dread hit August as he looked all over and turned up nothing, no sign of Rhys _or_ the food that had been in the locker that now sat, almost ripped open and certainly empty.

* * *

 

Vaughn’s heart was hammering away in his chest, almost trying to burst out of his ribcage as he heard the thudding steps of the creature getting closer and closer and louder and louder. He closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. This wasn’t real. It wasn’t happening. It was all just a bad dream.

‘Vaughn? What are you _doing_?’ Sasha hissed, staring at him as Fiona looked mildly concerned.

‘This is _not_ happening!’ Vaughn snapped back at her, eyes weary and tired and ever so slightly annoyed. ‘This isn’t real, Sasha! We’re all just being messed with!’ Oh, how he so desperately wanted that to be the truth. Vaughn moved away from where he’d had his back to the wall, moving into a place that was far more exposed as he glared at the two sisters while they tried to coax him back into the corridor they were crouched in. Vaguely, the little bandit king was aware that the footsteps had stopped.

‘Vaughn, will you just _please_ get back here!’ Fiona said quietly, looking almost frantic after a moment as the smaller man just huffed and crossed his arms.

‘There’s nothing there! Nothing to be afraid of! I’m tired, you’re both tired! It’s just a trick!’ he said stubbornly before finally taking in their terrified expressions. A frown painted his features before he felt the hairs on his neck prickle and a soft huff of warm air blew over him.

‘It’s right behind me, isn’t it?’ Vaughn wheezed quietly, the girls nodding and tried to coax Vaughn away only for him to be nudged rather gently by the creature’s giant muzzle. The ex-accountant gulped, shaking and pale as he realised the severity of the situation he was now in. This _thing_ could kill him easily, it could snap him up with one bite of its jaws… yet it didn’t. If it wanted to, why hadn’t it done it already? Surely he wasn’t _that_ undesirable…

That was a bit morbid, Vaughn blinked as he slowly turned and faced the slightly glowing creature. An air of familiarity graced him and Vaughn felt slightly taken aback by that as he watched the creature watch him. Its three glowing eyes and one dulled eye stared back at him as it raised a chunky forepaw, one that held the most yellow-glowing markings, and pawed at Vaughn in an almost jerky, puppet-like manner. It was almost as if that leg didn’t work properly.

‘Vaughn…!’ Sasha hissed to him, trying to get him away as he just stared at the creature before him. Though in doing so she’d attracted the creature’s attention and it rose to all fours immediately, growling at them almost protectively as Vaughn turned back and saw the bulge in its belly. No, that wasn’t a bulge nor its belly, Vaughn could see the glint of a tin can in there! It was a pouch!

‘Wait! Stop!’ Vaughn cried as he moved in front of the monster and held his hands up, eyes wide. ‘Stop, stop!’ he said, watching the monster’s growling die down after a moment and turn into almost fond purring.

‘What the hell are you doing?!’ Sasha stared, eyes wide in disbelief as Vaughn moved back over and gently reached for the pouch. The monster purred again and tucked its head beneath itself to watch Vaughn, quivering and rumbling as Vaughn gently reached into the pouch. It was warm and soft, like a kitten almost, and it was buzzing with energy, probably Eridium when Vaughn thought about the creature’s origin. Gently, he pulled a can of peaches out and frowned.

‘You storing food for the winter there buddy?’ he mumbled gently as the monster lowered its head and nuzzled him, immediately becoming uncomfortable and nervous as it purred away like an oversize chainsaw. Then its head moved away and it started to nose the food from its pouch out and onto the floor, rolling cans and fruits towards Vaughn with soft huffs and snuffs as August emerged from the bandit king’s room and approached slowly, the girls doing the same as they looked around the creature’s body once it was sat down and settled properly.

‘This is _insane_ , Vaughn, it’s acting like its tame or something.’ Fiona murmured as she looked around its body, August doing the same before stopping and cursing under his breath, drawing the attention of the others.

‘Vaughn?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Y’know Rhys’ neck tattoo? The dumb one with the circles and the random dot?’

‘It isn’t dumb, August.’

‘Whatever. That one? Yeah, it’s right here. On the monster’s neck.’ August said slowly, running a hand over the glowing yellow mark. In seconds the girls and Vaughn had crowded over, all wide-eyed and wishing it weren’t true.

‘Oh my god,’ Vaughn breathed, moving back around after taking his fill of staring at the mark and watching the monster raise its head and look at him in such a familiarly derpy fashion. ‘It’s _Rhys_.’

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, alright, I know this one probably sounds pretty boring at first but I promise you it'll definitely pick up as it goes along. Expect chapters to vary in length throughout and I hope you all enjoy!


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